The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-08-21
WHO ARE YOU?
Prevalent Ignorance In
America of Ancestral Ties.
THE UNEXPECTED WINDFALLs,
Tho Stories Told by tho MAsser OF the
New York Hall Of Records
Discoveries.

4 when man has acquired wealth
and position he has q naturs. and par
donsble desire to know something OF hi
ancestry"
The master of the Hall rof Record
closed one Of his tnlaid wood esbinet
filled with lasm0xendn!
"Butfamily pFidsis not so common
motive as desirefor money. By far tn,
greater number Of my clients hope &c
prove their titles to legsciss. to recoye,
property, to prove themselves heirs te
advertised estates. Here are two letter.
just received from the west wanting in
formation concerning sstatas. In chan.
cary. You may read them:
Are you eyer suecessful7 Look
Here is register of 90 900 cases in chan.
Gerry. Payment OUT Payment out.
Dye sse2 That means they have been
recovered"
"Now, what will you do for these
people2" "a
"1f they are Of Dutch descent, have
the old Dutch books of every city and
town, recording the names of the prin-
oipal citizens as far back as 13Ol IL
they are English l refer to nv English
books. which contain for many centur-
les the names of the gentry. :,
Don't KNOW THEIR eRANDMorHERs.
but it is surprising how few people
know for example. their grandmother's
names. Some people know less. A.
good deal of this confusion arises from.
our SILLY habit of naming children. A
girl Will have four names-they will
represent four generations. She opens.
ner mothers Bible. Her mother has.
four names. There is her ancestry for
several generations. A large part of nv
custom comes from people who iiteraIly
DO not know who they are."
business2" e
went hrst to recover some property
1or my wife. was so successful that I
was employed by the College of Her
aidry, started by a man named Wells.
now dead and his college extinct. III
went to Holland in 1896 and STAYED for
eighteen years, returning only now and
then, and staying the first time eight
years.
II began then to collect data on nv
own account wherever 1 found them.
Look"
Drawers, cabinets, book racks were
full of small folios, enclosed in neat
covers and alphabetically arranged. . 4
u have here the records of 23O. 900
families. When have new client, in
a few minutes can tell him if 1 have
any facts that will help him, and often
we are put Immediately in the right |
way.
TWO NEW YORK ACRES FOB A DOLLAR AND
HALF.
Another branch of my business is
collecting old deeds and legal docu- |
nents. In many instances these bring |
% people knowledge of rights of which |
hey were ignorant. The last time |
vas in England found deed belong
ng to one of the old Dutch families |
here emitting them to two acres and a |
half IN the heart of downtown. You
VIII yet hear of the lawsuit based on it.
When the English drove out the Dutch |
n this city this deed was seized and car.
'ied to England where it remained un-
Ill recovered il.
While he spoke he unrolled an old le-
gal document beginning, AZ William
Fourth, by grace of God" etc. It was
by an Illuminated floral
border and from it depended the royal
seals. The document acknowledged the
1ebt OF f96, 600 to the Lord Chancellor Of
he city of Dublin in 100.
When did you get it2"
Il bought it for $3.50 out in Ohio. 1t
vas left for safe keeping by the descend
lnts of this man (the name will not be
s1ven here to encourage doubtful hopes).
The owners of it went further west and
lave never been heard of since. Ifany
,erson OF this name could bring the
proofs of their ancestors, that money
could be recovered.
But 1t Is amusing how little care
people take to preserve their lineage. I
,ften find that after lapse of twenty
i've years IN this country brothers and
listers know nothing of one another.
now and then the search after property
will bring them together in the most
urious way.
a. Another great trouble arises from
'eople changing their names by adding
II emitting letters after they have
ONE to this country. Apropos, l will
ell you strange story OF circum.
tances. i
MIsLAID LETTER,
"After I had gone to Holland I
eceived letter from a Maryland fam
y asking me to look up some property
elonging to them in Holland.
II found no record of the name, but
t one somewhat similar. I wrote back
o know il they had and proofs identi {
ying their name with that of the Hol-
md family. They answered no, but
ent me the facts on which they based
heir claim. Their father late in the G
sst century had come to this country, :
saving IN Holland an only brother. s
me Saturday afternoon, in the year /
$40. the old gentleman walked into I
own, and there he found q letter from ,
is brother in Holland, begging him to
ONE back home. Il am not married, !
or never will be. I am rich man, {
nth plenty to support you and your
h1ldren. and they shall be my heirs, he I
Irote. With this letter he walked back
ONE. He read it to his family. But
was late. The Dutch Sunday beginst